document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=246315>Question 246315</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\">  y=ax^2+bx+c\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "what is a,b and c? and what are their functions? </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #179920 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=Theo><B>Theo(13342)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=Theo><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/show-face.mpl?user=Theo><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=179920\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> a is the coefficient of the x^2 term\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "b is the coefficient of the x term\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "c is the constant term\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "they are used in equations to find the roots and in equations to find the minimum / maximum point of a quadratic equation and in equations to find the slope and y-intercept of a straight line, among other uses that I am probably not totally aware of.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "in a quadratic equation, the formula to find the roots is called the quadratic formula and it is:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=x+=+%28%28-b%29+%2B-+sqrt+%28b%5E2-4ac%29%29%2F%282a%29 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"x+=+%28%28-b%29+%2B-+sqrt+%28b%5E2-4ac%29%29%2F%282a%29\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" >\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "the quadratic equation itself is (standard form) ax^2 + bx + c = 0 where:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "a is the coefficient of the x^2 term<BR>\n" );
document.write( "b is the coefficient of the x term<BR>\n" );
document.write( "c is the constant term\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "you use the a,b,c terms in the quadratic formula to find the roots. \r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "the minimum / maximum point of the quadratic equation is given by the formula:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "x = -b/2a\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "once again, it's the coefficients that are used in this formula.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "b is the coefficient of the x term.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "a is the coefficient of the x^2 term.  \r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "In a straight line, the standard form of the equation is ax + by = c where:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "a is the coefficient of the x term<BR>\n" );
document.write( "b is the coefficient of the y term<BR>\n" );
document.write( "c is the constant term\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "the slope-intercept form of the equation of a straight line is y = mx + b where:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "m is the slope<BR>\n" );
document.write( "b is the y-intercept\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "to convert from the standard form of the equation of a straight line to the slope-intercept form of the equation for a straight line, solve for x.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "ax + by = c is the standard form.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "subtract ax from both sides of this equation to get:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "by = -ax + c\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "divide both sides of this equation by b to get:\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "y = (-a/b)*x + (c/a)\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "your slope of m is equal to (-a/b)\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "your y-intercept of b is equal to (c/a)\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "no relationship between b in the slope-intercept form of the equation to the b which is the coefficient of the x term.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "they really should have used another letter to represent the y-intercept but they didn't so some confusion can occur although you are mostly working with numbers to the problem doesn't come up as it did now.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "anyway, some very smart people figured out these formulas that are very ueful to solve these types of equations.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( " </SPAN>\n" );
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